


Sacrifice

by monikerd



Category: DCU, DCU (Animated), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Dick Grayson is Batman, Gen, mentions of Artemis Wally and Kaldur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 04:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2137359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monikerd/pseuds/monikerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after season 2, episode 9 of Young Justice, "Darkest". </p>
<p>If there is one thing Dick never wanted to become, it was Batman, but it seems like he might not have much of a choice anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to delve a bit into the idea that Dick sometimes has to don the cowl while Batman’s away and this is the short story that came from that. Very sad Dick Grayson ahead.

_Sacrifice._

The word kept slipping out of his mouth like it meant nothing. Too many actions were becoming necessary sacrifices to save the world. It was a word that Dick had heard often, a word he always heard from Batman, but it was a word that Dick never wanted to have to say. As Dick sits in the dark of the Batcave, staring blankly at his clenched hands, he can’t help but feel he doesn’t have a choice with its use.

He can remember being thirteen and innocent; understanding the word, but unable to understand the consequences it brought; not yet fit to be a leader. And he continued to not understand, laughing during missions and occasionally giving Kaldur a hard time until that day of the training exercise, October 16th, where he learned the truth behind every necessary sacrifice.  He remembers losing Kaldur, their leader, because of Kaldur’s own sacrifice, he remembers taking over and sending Superboy off to be a distracting, a sacrifice really, and lastly he remembers sacrificing his own life; all to try to save the world.

But then he woke up and he realized how systematic and coldhearted his actions were. That day haunts him.

_“He’s offering you as a sacrifice.”_ He hears months later. _“You knew, you knew from the beginning why we were really here.”_

Kaldur might have sacrificed himself and left the team on their own, but at least he didn’t send anyone to their deaths. Kaldur was the better leader in that sense.

And he remembers vowing to never let that be him. Vows to never take the necessary risks, the necessary sacrifices that would allow him to send his own teammates to their probable deaths for the better good.

He says he doesn’t want to be  _the_ Batman anymore.

He had, had only the one session with Black Canary. Bats don’t talk about their feelings. He sucked it up and went on with his life. The team built itself back up. The training exercise seemed to be forgotten. But not for him, not really.

But now he is the leader and it feels just like it did before. There is a threat unlike they’ve ever faced and he’s finding himself acting more and more like Batman each day. He’s losing friends, he’s not sure if Wally will want anything to do with him now, he’s most likely going to lose the faith his team once had in him and if he’s perfectly honest with himself he’s losing his mind over the secrets he’s trying to hold. He still has Babs, whom he thinks will never leave him. He has Tim, but Tim isn’t a friend, Tim is a little brother, and sometimes looking at Tim reminded him of another little brother who made the ultimate sacrifice.

There were too many sacrifices under his command, Artemis, the Cave, Impulse and Beast Boy; and all Dick has left to cling to is the hope that Kaldur’s part of the plan will, the hope that Kaldur isn’t triple-crossing him and that together they can save the Earth and all of their friends.

Dick wishes all of this was on Kaldur’s shoulders instead.

It’s almost too much and all too often Dick is reminded of the fact that he is just barely 19 and still younger than many of the members of the team he leads. Barely 19 and just graduated from High School the year before. He doesn’t have time to be just barely 19, though, and for now he’ll continue on with their risky mission of lies and deception. And when Dick pulls the Batman cowl over his head every so often to keep the world thinking Batman is still around, Dick resents the fact that it seems to suit him more and more each day.


End file.
